Air cylinder thread lubrication

Just wondering if anybody uses grease of any sort on the threads of the air cylinder? Dont know about yours, but despite me attempting to keep the threads, both male and female as scrupulously clean as possible, the bottle does take some winding in once the valve has actuated and the last couple of turns are required to fully sit the cylinder within the action.

Speaking to a friend, he uses a particular grease on his, of course avoiding the valve and potential contact with high pressure air. I have always tried to maintain a nice free winding in of cylinders on my Steyr's, but this one is going like the rest and must be suffering from wear to some of the threads. If I did use a grease, I would use it very sparingly just to try and reduce or limit potential thread damage. The only cure I can see for sure is to save up for a quick fill cylinder!

Just wondering if anybody uses grease of any sort on the threads of the air cylinder? Dont know about yours, but despite me attempting to keep the threads, both male and female as scrupulously clean as possible, the bottle does take some winding in once the valve has actuated and the last couple of turns are required to fully sit the cylinder within the action.

Speaking to a friend, he uses a particular grease on his, of course avoiding the valve and potential contact with high pressure air. I have always tried to maintain a nice free winding in of cylinders on my Steyr's, but this one is going like the rest and must be suffering from wear to some of the threads. If I did use a grease, I would use it very sparingly just to try and reduce or limit potential thread damage. The only cure I can see for sure is to save up for a quick fill cylinder!

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Frank

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amac you seem to have answered your own question, just maybe the threads on the cylinder are letting you know they are about to give up and a replacement cylinder is Inevitable getting a quick fill replacement would be the ideal thing to do.JMO

By far the best anti galling compound I have ever used is Swagelok Goop, it s widely used in very testing applications offshore (where i aquired mine ) and is very expensive but you need a TINY TINY amount on any thread and its super tenacious, and makes threads feel brand new - trust me its brilliant.

I use it on all threads that require regular dismantling - it transforms the feel and massively prolongs the life of the materials in contact.

Once had the same problem with mine. It damaged the brass threads on the filling adapter.
Use a small amount of grease about the size of a match stick head and rub it between your fingers untill its more or less disappeared.
Then coat the filling adator nipple with this small amount. Whats happening is the o ring becomes dry and it grabs as you screw it on.
Don't put any on the threads.
Steyr uk have now asked best fittings to make an adapter that vents off in the conventional manner instead of the cylinder venting of as you unscrew it.
This was causing the last part of the thread to become damaged as pressure was being exerted on them causing damage.
The new type is much easier to use as you don't have to unscrew it like mad to prevent air loss.
If you need a new filling adapter get one of these instead there much better.
I may be wrong but I think the walther filling adapter is more or less the same and is much cheaper than the steyr one.
Hope this is of help to you.

Once had the same problem with mine. It damaged the brass threads on the filling adapter.
Use a small amount of grease about the size of a match stick head and rub it between your fingers untill its more or less disappeared.
Then coat the filling adator nipple with this small amount. Whats happening is the o ring becomes dry and it grabs as you screw it on.
Don't put any on the threads.
Steyr uk have now asked best fittings to make an adapter that vents off in the conventional manner instead of the cylinder venting of as you unscrew it.
This was causing the last part of the thread to become damaged as pressure was being exerted on them causing damage.
The new type is much easier to use as you don't have to unscrew it like mad to prevent air loss.
If you need a new filling adapter get one of these instead there much better.
I may be wrong but I think the walther filling adapter is more or less the same and is much cheaper than the steyr one.
Hope this is of help to you.

Click to expand...

recently got a best fittings adapter.
in the package was a note saying it's a new design allowing you not to have to purge the valve before disconnecting

Thanks for the information and advice chaps. After writing the post last night I decided upon a thorough clean of all the offending threads. Considering that I only cleaned them a couple of days ago there must be an unseen reservoir of lubricant knocking about somewhere! I still managed to wipe of a very light coating of cack. On inserting the cylinder, the process was notably improved and it looks like this will be the way forward.

In saying that, the special grease products and methods, including the new Best filling adapter, are obviously worthy of major consideration in the future. Will also give Harry a bell and see how much the new (short) quick-fill cylinders are.

1 vote for blacklab, the threads should be kept clean and most lubes attract dirt, in my LG110 the lube is for the o-ring, read the manual.
If you still want to lube the threads try some dry wax or KryTech.

Following a session at our clubs indoor range last night, I required a couple of air fills.After maintaining my new always cleaning all visible threads with tissue routine the air cylinder is spinning into the action perfectly. Incidentally,a fellow club member has recently had the misfortune of his threads stripping, which will of course now require a new air cylinder and male reg thread replacement. Bugger.

Following a new Walther LP400 pistol I bought a couple of months back starting to develop similar "galling" tendencies, I once again did some research as to a suitable lubricant that wouldn't end up migrating into regulators and valves.

A worthy solution was found when checking out the new range of lubricants at Halfords recently. The new product is in the WD40 range and is described as " WD-40 Specialist Anti Friction Dry PTFE Lubricant 250ml" It costs a fiver and is perfect for the job as the lubricant dries within seconds of application leaving a well lubed male adapter that has transformed the "screwing"performance of the said Walther pistols air cylinder.

I am of course well aware that the latest guns are fitted with quick fill adapters which do away with the problem, but for those that dont have the quick fill this particular lube may help.

Regarding lubrication for pneumatics I prefer not to work with any seals in a dry state if possible, so I would always try and make sure that the seal has a small amount of lubrication from something like Molykote 33, but keep the threads dry. I agree silicone greases can cause galling issues on threads as mentioned above, and any grease on the threads will only attract grit and dust.

Not lightly greasing the seal occasionally will reduce its life and reduce its sealing qualities, and scuff and tear the surfaces of the seal every time it is contacted by the nose of the reg, or the filler probe.

To put it into context, you wouldn't build a gun with dry seals, but you wouldn't lubricate the moving parts with oil based greases or oils either, as any oil based lubricants could get into the cylinder or pre valve area creating a serious risk.